Known axial piston machines of swash plate design comprise a cylinder barrel which is connected fixedly to a drive shaft so as to rotate with it having a multiplicity of cylinder bores which are formed therein, in which a multiplicity of working pistons are guided axially displaceably, and a pivotably mounted pivot cradle which has a swash plate on its side which faces the cylinder barrel, on which swash plate sliding pads are supported in a sliding manner, which sliding pads are provided on foot-side end sections of the working pistons. Single-part spring return apparatuses are known for prestressing the sliding pads against the swash plate. The spring return plate which is disclosed in DE 29921501 U1 comprises a base plate with a central opening and a multiplicity, corresponding to the number of working pistons or sliding pads, of sliding pad holding sections which are arranged spaced apart identically in the circumferential direction. Each sliding pad holding section comprises a radially outwardly extending lower section with a lower opening, an upper section which is arranged parallel to the lower section and extends radially inwardly with an upper opening and a bent section which connects the lower section and the upper section to one another in such a way that the upper section is elastically flexible or pivotable in relation to the lower section on account of the elasticity of the bent section. Here, the lower opening and the upper opening have a common axis and are designed such that a tapered section of a working piston and/or sliding pad extends through the upper and the lower opening in an installed state of the spring return plate. The production of said known spring return plate comprises a multiple-stage stamping and bending process and is therefore complicated and expensive.